


Circle of Oron

by beanbug



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Aliens Made Them Do It, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-07
Updated: 2015-05-07
Packaged: 2018-03-29 12:20:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3896098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beanbug/pseuds/beanbug
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“The Oron bond is initiated by intimate contact.  Only when the bond has formed may you leave the confines of the circle.”</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Circle of Oron

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings at end of story
> 
> I love all of the cliched tropes. Can you tell? :D

“The Oron bond is initiated by intimate contact. Only when the bond has formed may you leave the confines of the circle,” the purple robed priest said, smiling benevolently.

“Wait a second, intimate contact?” Rodney demanded, echoing John’s thoughts. “What uh, what precisely are we defining as intimate contact here? Hugging? Holding hands? Sharing secrets?”

The priest’s smile took on an edge, as if they were trying his patience. Behind him in the courtyard beyond, the two guards also dressed in purple robes were frowning.  
“In our culture, love making is considered the greatest connection we can make with the Gods. The gift of mutual pleasure seals the bond forever.”

“Love making,” Rodney repeated flatly, corner of his mouth tugging down.

Oh this was not good. 

“Sexual congress,” the priest clarified, still with the same smile.

Oh this was so not good.

“Listen, pal, bit of a problem. We like girls,” John said, glancing at Rodney for backup. Okay, so it wasn’t strictly true on John’s part, but hell if it got them out of this -

Rodney nodded frantically. “Blonde for preference, with big – “ Rodney’s hands raised to cup in front of his chest. 

John hastily interrupted him. “Yeah. Right. So you see we can’t bond, so why don’t you just let down this forcefield and we’ll be on our way.”

The priest’s smile was more like a grimace now, frown creasing his forehead below his ostentatious beaded headdress. “That is unfortunate. However, unbonded cannot be allowed to leave the circle. It is sacrilegious to even consider such a thing,” he said sternly.

“Yeah? Well it’s against our laws to sleep with people of the same gender,” John said. 

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Rodney pause at that, mouth opening and John just knew he was going to make a comment about Canadian vs. American politics. He turned and glared. Rodney closed his mouth. 

The priest’s expression had closed off. Behind him, the guards were exchanging horrified looks.  
“You do not permit all expressions of human sexuality on your world?”

And too late it occurred to him that maybe Don’t Ask Don’t Tell wouldn’t go down too well with the priest of a sex cult.

“Uh…“

“Enough. It is out of my hands, Colonel Sheppard. If the ritual is not completed then the circle takes a blood sacrifice.”

Oh hell. He really didn’t like the sound of that. “Woah – hang on a second – “

“Wait wait wait - you mean you’ll kill us?!” Rodney said, eyebrows rising and voice climbing in panic.

“There must be some other way?” John asked, desperately.

“I regret not,” the priest inclined his head in a way that suggested he might be sorry but really it was their own damn faults for violating the Oronion’s sacred room in the first place. John gritted his teeth. “It is necessary to preserve the sanctity of the temple. The circle grants an almost painless death. It cannot be prevented,” the priest continued.

“Are you serious? That’s it?! There must be a way to shut this down. Just because you’ve never tried it doesn’t mean it can’t be done!” Rodney demanded shrilly. 

Apparently though their time was up.

“Colonel Sheppard, Dr McKay, on our world the sharing of pleasure is our highest ritual. Only those who have prepared for many moons are allowed to enter the circle. You have violated the sanctity of the circle of Oron, now you will abide by our customs or you will die by the circle. The circle grants those who enter it two hours. I suggest you use that time wisely.”

With that he span on his heel, purple robes flowing out behind him, the guards following him out.

The doors closed leaving them alone. 

“Ah, c’mon!” John said, kicking at the forcefield and getting zapped for his efforts.

-*-*

John slowly moved his finger forward. Something like static gathered, blue light building at the end of his finger, the hum of electricity intensifying. He pulled his finger back just before the field zapped him, the edge of it catching his fingertip anyway.

“Ow,”he hissed, shaking out the sting.

“Will you stop doing that?” Rodney snapped from his spot on the floor. 

“Well, at least I’m doing something,” John said, nudging Rodney’s leg with his foot, earning himself a glare.

“And what precisely do you expect me to do? This field prevents everything electronic from working. Even my watch has stopped,” Rodney said a little forlornly.

“Maybe there’s a control panel around here somewhere?” John suggested.

“Oh. Yes. Brilliant idea. Maybe it’s hidden somewhere in this completely empty five metre radius circle?”

“Alright, alright.”

John went back to feeling his way around the edge with his toe. The floor was completely featureless, solid gray stone.

“Do you really think they’ll kill us if we don’t – you know?” Rodney asked uneasily.

John glanced at him. “I don’t know.”

“Because, no offence but you aren’t exactly high on my list.”

“Yeah, well, same here,” John drawled, feeling weirdly stung. 

“And I’ve never even – you know – with a guy,” Rodney said, colour staining his cheeks. “Not that I’m against the idea, you understand,” he added hastily. “It’s only logical to be open to all possibilities. Although most of the available evidence points to me being straight with an, ah, inclination for blondes.”

John gave up on his investigation and sat down on the cold floor, away from the electrified edge. “Look, we just have to sit tight and wait until Ronon and Teyla come get us out.” 

“What if they don’t?”

“They will.”

“Yeah but what if they don’t? They could be anywhere. They could be stuck like us -”

“They will, Rodney, okay? We’ve just go to sit this out.”

-*-*

“It’s not that you’re unattractive,” Rodney said a while later, breaking into John’s speculation about how many guards were in the compound.

It took a second to sink in and then he blinked and turned to look at Rodney who had turned pink.

“Objectively speaking, of course,” Rodney clarified.

“Of course,” John repeated, pulling a face. 

“I mean, you’re actually quite aesthetically pleasing, and you’re not unintelligent – “

“How about we don’t talk about this?” John said.

“Okay,” Rodney agreed hurriedly.

-*-*

“Has that hum gotten louder to you?” Rodney said suddenly.

John cocked his head, listening. After a second the hum’s volume increased. The circumference of the circle suddenly lit up a dark blue under him and John scrabbled backwards, boots slipping on the smooth stone even as Rodney was shuffling away from his side of the circle with a panicked, “Colonel!”

“Oh, this is not good.”

“Oh shit oh shit oh shit –“Rodney was saying behind him.

They were back to back now, in the centre of the circle. Hairs were rising on John’s arms, on the back of his neck as the circumference glowed brighter, small sparks flashing in  
the air around them as the charge in the air intensified. The noise suddenly hitched up to a screech, and John covered his ears, grunting with pain. He heard Rodney cry out behind him.

The door was still shut. No one was coming. There was only one possibility.

John turned. Rodney was hunched over, hands clamped over his ears. His eyes widened when John grabbed his shoulder, huge and blue. 

“Sheppard?!”

“Don’t freak out,” John shouted over the screech.

John fisted his hand in Rodney’s teeshirt and yanked him forward. Rodney was stiff against him, his lips unyielding under John’s own. He broke off.

“Get with the program, McKay,” he growled. 

John could see the movement of Rodney’s throat as he swallowed, and then Rodney was squeezing his eyes shut and lunging forward blindly. John barely caught him in time, stumbling a little under Rodney’s weight and then Rodney’s mouth was on his.

At first he barely registered it, his senses full of the piercing screech, of tingling shocks of static all over his exposed skin. It took him a moment to realise that the noise was slowly dropping in pitch and volume, gradually fading to nothing.

As if rushing to fill the void, suddenly John was aware of the overwhelming sensation of the heat of Rodney’s mouth against his own, the pressure of Rodney’s fingers where they had curled awkwardly in John’s tee shirt, burning hot against John’s sides even through the material. 

The bolt of heat down his spine from the first touch of Rodney’s tongue to his own almost sent him skittering back. Sheer force of will kept him in place. 

It was Rodney who pulled back sharply, hands falling away from John’s sides. He was breathing hard, his cheeks pink and John’s fist was still clenched in the front of his shirt.

They stared at each other. 

“Do – do you think that was enough?” Rodney asked, and oh yeah, they were still stuck in the damn circle and John really had to focus right now on the problem at hand.  
The noise had dropped to a low hum, but the edge of the circle was still glowing dark blue.

“I don’t know,” John said, his voice coming out huskier than he’d intended.

He licked his lips and McKay’s gaze dropped to his mouth.

The _swoosh_ of the door opening made them both jump and John took a hasty step back. Then the priest was bustling in, his guards hot on his tail and Teyla and Ronon following behind. Their rescue had arrived. 

TBC

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: This story contains all the usual dubcon issues that come with an AMTDI set up and a fuck-or-die scenario. Having said that, there is no actual sex in this chapter, so: dubcon kissing? 
> 
> Hello my lovelies. Again, am writing this half asleep, so many apologies for mistakes. Concrit is welcome.


End file.
